Don Jackson (ice hockey)

Don Jackson
Born (1956-09-02) September 2, 1956
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
Position Defense
Shot Left
Played for Minnesota North Stars
Edmonton Oilers
New York Rangers
NHL Draft 39th overall, 1976
Minnesota North Stars
WHA Draft 91st overall, 1976
Calgary Cowboys
Playing career 1978–1987

Donald Clinton Jackson (born September 2, 1956 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Bloomington, Minnesota) is an ice hockey coach and a retired professional ice hockey player who played 315 games in the National Hockey League between 1978 and 1987 and began his coaching career in 1988.

Since May 2014, he has been serving as head coach of EHC Red Bull München in Germany.

Playing career

Jackson grew up playing ice hockey in Bloomington, Minnesota for John F. Kennedy High School and earned a scholarship to attend and play for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Prior to graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1978, Jackson was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars in the NHL's 1976 Amateur Draft, 3rd round, 39th overall. He played 2 games for the North Stars late in the 1978 season after finishing his college career and spent most of the next 3 seasons playing for the North Stars minor league team, the Oklahoma City Stars. Prior to the 1981–82 NHL season, Jackson was traded to the Edmonton Oilers and played most of that season with Edmonton's minor league team, the Wichita Wind. Jackson earned his break at the beginning of the 1982–83 season and played 262 games for the Oilers NHL team, earning Stanley Cup Champion rings in 1984 and 1985. After the 1985–86 season, Jackson was traded to the New York Rangers for his final NHL season before retiring.

He was also a member of the United States Ice Hockey World Cup team at the 1978 and 1979 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments.

Coaching career

Jackson returned to ice hockey in 1989 as the head coach for the Knoxville Cherokees of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). His success with the Cherokees during the 1990–91 earned him recognition as Coach of the Year. In 1991, Jackson was hired by Pierre Page as an Assistant Coach for the Quebec Nordiques, where he served for 3 seasons. He moved on to serve as head coach for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the IHL for the 1994–95 season, the Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League for the 1995–96 season and the Kansas City Blades of the IHL for the 1996–97 season. In 1997, Jackson was hired by Kevin Constantine as Assistant Coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins, serving 3 seasons. Jackson was employed as Assistant Coach by the Chicago Blackhawks for 3 months of the 2000–01 season, and was named Assistant Coach of the Ottawa Senators the following year. Jackson stayed with the Senators until his contract ended without being renewed in 2004.

The 2004–05 NHL Lockout pushed Don to find a coaching role in Europe. Late into the 2004–05 season of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (German Hockey League), Don was asked by General Manager, Peter Lee, and Head Coach, Pierre Page, to join the Eisbären Berlin coaching staff as an assistant. Berlin won their first championship that season.

Berlin's success helped Jackson earn his first head coaching position in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with Lance Nethery and DEG Metro Stars of Düsseldorf, who ended the 2004-05 season in 10th place. In Jackson's first season 2005-06 in Düsseldorf, he coached the team to a 3rd place regular season finish and into the playoff finals where they lost against the Eisbären Berlin in 2006 DEL playoff finals. Don carried that success into a second season in Düsseldorf, finishing 2nd in regular season play and losing in the playoff semi-finals.

After the 2006-07 season Don moved on to fill the head coach position for the Eisbären Berlin of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, who had finished in 9th place. Don repeated the success he demonstrated in Düsseldorf by coaching Eisbären Berlin to a 2nd place regular season finish and a playoff finals DEL championship in his first season there. For that achievement, Jackson was awarded the Order of Merit of Berlin. In his six seasons as head coach with Eisbären Berlin (2007-2013), Don coached the team to 3 first place regular season finishes, 5 DEL championships, and a 2010 victory for the European Trophy (currently, Champions Hockey League).

In 2013, Jackson joined Red Bull Hockey, who sent him to coach their team EC Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Hockey League for the 2013-2014 season, who had finished their previous season in 8th place.[1] Don again repeated his success by coaching the team to a 1st place regular season finish, losing a game 7 overtime in the League Playoff finals. After the season, Red Bull Hockey moved Jackson to their team, EHC Red Bull Munich, for the 2014-15 season[2] where the team finished 2nd overall but an early playoff exit. The 2nd place finish earned Red Bull Munich a position in the 2015-16 Champions Hockey League, where they won in the group stage to advance to the playoff, then lost in the round of 32. Jackson's leadership of EHC Red Bull Munich for the 2015-16 season again improved on the team's success by finishing in 1st place in regular season play, and culminating in a 4-game sweep of the Wolfsburg Grizzlys for the 2016 DEL Playoff Championship. This is the 6th DEL Playoff Championship for Don Jackson in his 10 years as a head coach in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

Year Team League Position
1988-91 Knoxville Cherokees ECHL Head Coach
1991-94 Quebec Nordiques NHL Assistant Coach
1994-95 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL Head Coach
1995-96 Wichita Thunder CHL Head Coach
1996-97 Kansas City Blades IHL Head Coach
1997-2000 Pittburgh Penguins NHL Assistant Coach
2000-01 Chicago Blackhawks NHL Assistant Coach
2001-05 Ottawa Senators NHL Assistant Coach
2005 Eisbären Berlin DEL Assistant Coach
2005-07 DEG Metro Stars DEL Head Coach
2007-13 Eisbären Berlin DEL Head Coach
2013-14 EC Red Bull Salzburg EBEL Head Coach
2014–present EHC Red Bull München DEL Head Coach

Head Coach Record

Season Team League Season record League finish Note
1989-90 Knoxville Cherokees ECHL 21-33-0-6 8 Replaced Pierre Hamel mid-season. Did not make playoffs
1990-91 Knoxville Cherokees ECHL 46-13-0-5 1 Lost in quarterfinal round
1994-95 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 49-22-0-10 3 Lost in quarterfinal round. 1993-94 finished 2nd.
1995-96 Wichita Thunder CHL 22-39-0-3 6 Did not make playoffs. 1994-95 finished 1st.
1996-97 Kansas City Blades IHL 38-29-0-15 5 Lost in quarterfinal round. 1995-96 finished 7th.
2005-06 DEG Metro Stars DEL 30-15-0-7 2 Lost in final round. 2004-05 finished 10th.
2006-07 DEG Metro Stars DEL 33-15-0-4 2 Lost in semifinal round
2007-08 Eisbaren Berlin DEL 38-14-0-4 2 Playoff Champion. 2006-07 finished 9th.
2008-09 Eisbaren Berlin DEL 36-14-0-2 1 Playoff Champion
2009-10 Eisbaren Berlin DEL 42-11-0-3 1 Lost in semifinal round
2010-11 Eisbaren Berlin DEL 30-16-0-6 3 Playoff Champion
2011-12 Eisbaren Berlin DEL 33-16-0-3 1 Playoff Champion
2012-13 Eisbaren Berlin DEL 28-18-0-6 4 Playoff Champion
2013-14 EC Salzburg Austria 33-13-4-4 1 Lost in final round. 2012-13 finished 8th.
2014-15 EHC Munchen DEL 28-15-5-4 2 Lost in quarterfinal round. 2013-14 finished 7th.
2015-16 EHC Munchen DEL 25-14-6-7 1 Playoff Champion

Awards and achievements

References

  1. ↑ Nachrichten, Salzburger. "Eishockey: Don Jackson neuer Coach bei Red Bull". www.salzburg.com. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  2. ↑ "Perfekt: Don Jackson neuer EHC-Trainer". http://www.merkur.de. Retrieved 2016-04-05. External link in |website= (help)
  3. ↑ "Don Jackson honoured". www.iihf.com. Retrieved 2016-04-05.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Doug Shedden		 Wichita Thunder head coach
1995 - 1996 		Succeeded by
Bryan Wells
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.